Poor pharma showing on reputable companies list

Johnson & Johnson, Bayer and Abbott Laboratories have made the top 100 on a list of the world’s most reputable companies but there is no sign of any of the top pharmaceutical companies.

The list, compiled by management consulting firm Reputation Institute, has J&J at 16, down a place from 2013, while Bayer slips to 58th from 52. Abbott comes in at 84th.

The analysis is based on more than 55,000 interviews with consumers conducted in January and February across the 15 largest markets in the world and the companies are assigned points on a scale of 100. Johnson & Johnson scored 73.7, Bayer 69.2 and Abbott 66.9.

Respondents were asked specifically about Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline, but all of those companies ranked below the 65.4 cut-off for the list. Equal first were Walt Disney and Google (both scored 77.3), while equal second were BMW and Rolex. Sony and Canon were fifth and sixth, respectively.

Kasper Ulf Nielsen, executive partner of Reputation Institute, claimed that successful firms "have changed their marketing approach to focus more on building trust in the company rather than pushing their product alone. They are doing it in a myriad of ways, from social media engagement to co-creation programmes with customers".